A sales assistant who scalded her wrist while serving herself soup from a tureen in a Dunnes Stores self-service staff canteen, has failed in a claim for £30,000 damages against the company.
Ms Karen Day (24), of Cabinteely Court, Pottery Road, Dun Laoghaire, told Mr David Nolan, counsel for Dunnes Stores, she had been forced to adopt an awkward and unsafe posture when attempting to pour soup into a bowl from a large catering tureen. She said the soup had splashed onto her wrist as she ladled it into a cereal bowl. No dedicated soup bowls, which had more perpendicular sides, had been provided at the time.
The Circuit Court president, Mr Justice Esmond Smyth, said there were certain human tasks common to all of us in this world and ladling soup from a tureen into a bowl was a typical one. He felt it would be imposing an unreal standard of care on Dunnes Stores to say they could be liable in such a situation.
The judge said it appeared to be an unfortunate accident during loss of concentration on Ms Day's part and he could not attach any liability to Dunnes Stores.